Chicago BAT Project

[tonyr 926]

It's perfect!

[Fargo 543]

Sublime 

[darn42 1,268]

IT IS LIVE!

 

 

 

Enjoy Everybody.

 

[Darknono35 3,137]

Your best BAT so far buddy

BAT of the year !! oh Yeah, with all your details, textures and beautiful lighting so Fantastic... Epic 

[edwardjeria 503]

is  ooooooozome

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Any chance of releasing buildings which are almost complete? I saw several Chicago skyscrapers, and office blocks, in this thread which look ready for posting on the STEX.

[unclesahm 32]

Any chance of releasing buildings which are almost complete? I saw several Chicago skyscrapers, and office blocks, in this thread which look ready for posting on the STEX.

I agree! Whatever happened to that gorgeous version of the Chase building??

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Jewelers Building is stunning! Great job, darn!! 

[darn42 1,268]

Those will all come, but I'm remaking most of them. Chase Tower has experienced so many glitches that it is not salvageable, so I'm using the shell to remake it. Daley center I am going to remake from scratch at some point. 333 Wacker I again need to remodel some parts of it, but it is the closest to release of them all. 

 

I do have a bit of a secret project in the works that I will be working on exclusively until it is done, however. I will post what that is and the progress I've made when I think it is ready to be revealed. I am positive you all will like it when it is finished, however.

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Those will all come, but I'm remaking most of them. Chase Tower has experienced so many glitches that it is not salvageable, so I'm using the shell to remake it. Daley center I am going to remake from scratch at some point. 333 Wacker I again need to remodel some parts of it, but it is the closest to release of them all. 

 

Dayum! That's some bad luck. Well I hope you can rebuild your portfolio of BATs.

[darn42 1,268]

Realized I don't like keeping secrets and it's kind of pointless anyways. I won't be updating this thread in a while regardless, though. 

 

The goal of this next project is to almost completely recreate the loop. I've gotten the blockouts of all major buildings done and I've started the difficult part. Once everything has shape I'll show any further pics.

 

 

And I'm sure some of you will recognize this view

 

Anyways, I want to get to know all of Chicagos buildings for myself personally, and this is always the best way. My favorite building is the one I'm working on I think I've done the most difficult building in terms of shape already, though. Three First National Plaza was very awkward to get accurate.

Also, you'll see the new version of chase tower already taken form as well.

 

Anyways, what I hope to do in terms of Simcity after this, is of course to release most of the buildings, but and idea that I had for most of them, because they will be unfinished, is to give some newer BATers a chance to work on a building that's already got the most difficult part finished--proportions and form--and have a chance to finish and detail it. My very favorite buildings I will keep to myself though

 

 

One thing I am wondering, though. The Thompson center is easily the most hideous building in existence, but the first building on the lot, I think it was Sherwood hotel? Was absolutely stunningly beautiful. If I can get reference for that building, I would definitely replace Thompson in my recreation and eventually release it on the STEX but it's hard to find, so I'd like to draft some help. Specifically, Vlasky, if you see this, you are amazing at this stuff, would you help find some old photos?

[shinkansen1 84]

I am excited to see this take shape. But the Thompson Center being the ugliest? For me, not by a long shot. I see some modern structures (particularly in London and one in New York) as being far worse in appearance.

[darn42 1,268]

It's just a huge blob in the middle of downtown... some things might be standalone uglier but I think Thompson is ugly because it's so out of place. Especially since this was what could have been on the lot instead...

 

It burned down and got replaced by a significantly less beautiful building, but still. Why waste an entire block on an anomalous, gigantic blob.

[Shy Dude 149]

Never seen that hotel before, I love that mansard roof

 

But after some quick research, I think the mansard roof was removed in the 20s and an expansion was added (original building on the right).

 

And decades later.

It's like every decade found a way to screw up the facade

[Darknono35 3,137]

Realized I don't like keeping secrets and it's kind of pointless anyways. I won't be updating this thread in a while regardless, though. 

 

The goal of this next project is to almost completely recreate the loop. I've gotten the blockouts of all major buildings done and I've started the difficult part. Once everything has shape I'll show any further pics.

 

 

And I'm sure some of you will recognize this view

 

Anyways, I want to get to know all of Chicagos buildings for myself personally, and this is always the best way. My favorite building is the one I'm working on I think I've done the most difficult building in terms of shape already, though. Three First National Plaza was very awkward to get accurate.

Also, you'll see the new version of chase tower already taken form as well.

 

Anyways, what I hope to do in terms of Simcity after this, is of course to release most of the buildings, but and idea that I had for most of them, because they will be unfinished, is to give some newer BATers a chance to work on a building that's already got the most difficult part finished--proportions and form--and have a chance to finish and detail it. My very favorite buildings I will keep to myself though

 

 

One thing I am wondering, though. The Thompson center is easily the most hideous building in existence, but the first building on the lot, I think it was Sherwood hotel? Was absolutely stunningly beautiful. If I can get reference for that building, I would definitely replace Thompson in my recreation and eventually release it on the STEX but it's hard to find, so I'd like to draft some help. Specifically, Vlasky, if you see this, you are amazing at this stuff, would you help find some old photos?

@Darn: You done an very huge and difficult  work buddy,it"s wonderful !! Your BAT are awesome and Ultra-Detailed !! Are you going to re-create all the Loop ?

But please let me some buildings from Chicago....

 

Well, I can't wait your new Chase Tower, and your future progress

[unclesahm 32]

The Chase tower is gonna be off the hook

[edwardjeria 503]

i think 

the best building is art deco ?

[SimCoug 5,973]

Just so I understand you darn, you are looking for more reference pics of that beautiful old building that you posted? If you intend to bat that gem, I'll go digging for you.

[darn42 1,268]

I do intend to. Its the original Sherman hotel. And if I get references enough to accurately recreate it I'll make it pretty high on the list because its unique and beautiful.

I am going to have some very unproductive and some very productive days for a while. Senior year just ended and there's a graduation party every other day. Also vacation.

[SimCoug 5,973]

Alright... here's what a little digging brought up.  

 

Apparently the original Sherman Hotel did burn down in the Great Chicago fire of 1871.  

It was rebuilt as this beauty in 1873:

 

In 1910 it was demolished and rebuilt again, and this is the iteration that you found, Darn:

 

If you are interested in the history, this is a nice little re-cap:

http://www.connectingthewindycity.com/2011/03/down-they-forgot-as-up-they-grew.html

 

And here are all the images that I was able to round up:

http://www.patsabin.com/illinois/sherman.jpg

http://interactive.wttw.com/sites/default/files/loop_vLL5_LL.jpg

http://www.chicagopostcardmuseum.org/images/20th_century/hotels/Hotel_Sherman_01_F.png

http://editthisin.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/n008627.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LTnbdioIyEc/UPXH5KlBjKI/AAAAAAAAPoI/7dDhEpC4t4w/s1600/shermanmansard.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-VRnAvTn5qzs/TYk-XJqsbHI/AAAAAAAAB-8/6GTQhXkrr1o/s1600/sherman+house+site+1909+memory.loc.gov.jpg (construction pic)

 

This page has a really great (high res) negative of the hotel... 

http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/mqc/id/29466/rec/29

 

I believe this is a book of the architects who built it, but I can't access the digital copy since my university days were ages ago

http://books.google.com/books/about/Selected_Photographs_Illustrating_the_Wo.html?id=KohOAAAAYAAJ

 

Hopefully that gives you something to start with.  Let me know if you need any further research.  Good luck!

 

PS - Congrats on graduation!  The best is yet to come

 

EDIT:

Here's a closeup I found of the entrance:

http://www.gratis-webserver.de/botzleiner/data/kundendaten/200392/PC190_Hotel_Sherman_1930s.jpg

[shinkansen1 84]

I think the allure of older style buildings is lost on me. I don't feel anything from looking at those images. :sad:

[darn42 1,268]

Wow! You are a beautiful person, and that building is just as beautiful. I can assure you that this is going to be the next thing I work on. I am super excited for this.

 

The mansard roof is especially awesome. I didn't realize there were statues framing the arches. That will be an interesting challenge, and it will be an awesome replacement for the Thompson center in my recreation

 

Seriously, thank you so much for this. It is going to be fast one of my favorite ex-buildings.

 

 

Shinkansen: That's a shame Personally, old buildings are by far my favorite. I am a sucker for ornamentation and bricks.

[Shy Dude 149]

Here's a link with a huge TIFF image download of the building.

 

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994021591/PP/

[SimCoug 5,973]

Ha... yeah, that 158mb image is almost sharp enough to recreate the pattern of the wrought iron balcony's  

 

Nice find Shy Dude.     

[darn42 1,268]

daaaang. That's an awesome picture. I've never had such a high quality reference for any building I've done. With the stuff simcoug found and that, I have plenty of material. I am just going to have to make up the roof when it comes time for that. Thank you guys so much.

[Shy Dude 149]

Yeah, the LOC website has some really good high res photos of some buildings and even surveys/blueprints sometimes. Unfortunately that's the only picture I could find of the hotel.

[SimCoug 5,973]

I am just going to have to make up the roof when it comes time for that.

 

Yeah, the best I could come up with is this picture from an old city 'birds eye view' drawing depicting Chicago in 1916:

 

You can find the Sherman Hotel near the center of the picture.

 

Here is a more detailed image using one of the 'birds eye view' drawings, but this is from 1897 so it depicts the older hotel:

 

Here's a photograph... I'd say the artist who drew the birds eye view did a pretty good job:

[coolsim1 104]

Is this project dead? It would really be a shame I was really excited for it and watching it closely.

[darn42 1,268]

So I almost completely redid 333 wacker over the last few days, and I think that this time you guys are actually going to get it.

 

I was experimenting a lot with glass and ground planes, and I think I may have gotten a winner. The first 3 pictures are going to be the ground plane that is most recent and the last one is going to be previous iterations of the ground plane.

 

 

And these are going to have much worse glass than the ones I just showed, but I don't have time for more renders.

 

 

 

I want this BAT to be my best so far, so could anyone with time on their hands take a look at each picture, and starting from the top slowly make their way downwards and note whenever they double-take or get caught up looking at something and then post what it was so I can fix it. 

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

Ok.. are you ready?

 

Nah, it looks really good as is, but if you want a picky eye for detail to pull it apart, here's some things I found:

• There's many inaccuracies with the roof, are you going for real-life-ism or just modeling realism?
• In general I'd say most of the roof junk looks like it needs something more.. not sure what, but they look a bit like little candies at the moment. Have a look at Darknono's roofs, he has a real knack for it, but not sure what his secret is...
• In terms of the glass, I'd say it needs to be a lot darker. This building is probably going to be the hardest to get looking right. Every angle is represented and its a mid-rise, so the normal ground-plane method used for most BATing IMO does not work. It's reflecting the tops of buildings when its not very tall and that detracts severely from the realism. Not sure what you thought of the glass I did for Crown Metropol, but its not dis-similar in that its mid-rise and curved. I tried an experimental technique of modeling the surroundings using low-poly structures and pasted-on textures hidden from the camera, to try and simulate what it would really be reflecting at that angle. Maybe you could try something like that?
• I think those whiteish glass panes that appear throughout the building look a bit flat and lifeless, do they need more reflectivity?
• I think I'd try bumping up the reflectivity in the tiles on the ground as well, just a bit, they also look a bit lifeless.

Anyway, that's my two-cents worth. The biggest thing to fix is the roof, that's what's detracting the most from true realism IMO.

 

Great work as always